Tuesday, Oct 9, 2007

Several bags containing three decapitated goats, headless chickens and rotting fruit with maggots were found dumped at the top of Hadley Street on Tuesday.

City public works and Los Angeles County Animal Care and Control employees removed the carcasses and trash Tuesday morning. Residents said the material had been left there most likely since the weekend.

"It was terrible," said Armando Morales of Whittier, who discovered the animal parts and trash behind the brush at the end of the street Monday morning.

"All of the heads were cut off," said Morales, a kick boxer who was running with Joe Butanda of Rosemead. "Maybe it was a cult or something. Why cut the heads off?"

Whittier police and county animal-control officials said the dumping is under investigation, but were pessimistic they would find who did it.

"At this point we can't link it to anyone," said Brenda Sanchez, spokeswoman for the county Animal Care and Control Department. "At this point it's just a dumping site. We don't have any leads."

Sanchez said she also doesn't know about the motive.

"Sometimes those can be linked to witchcraft or Santeria," she said. "It's really hard to know unless you have a specialist on witchcraft or Santeria."

The county does not, she said.

Whittier police Officer Diana Salazar said several calls came in Monday morning and were forwarded that day to the county Animal Care and Control Department.

Whittier has a contract with the county to provide animal-control services.

Apparently between Monday morning and the evening, someone moved the carcasses and trash from behind the brush to the street. A white sign with the words, "animal control," and an arrow pointing to the brush was staked into the ground.

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